Five best books on advertising

A few years ago at the Wall Street Journal, advertising executive Jerry Della Femina named a five best list of books on advertising.

One title on the list:

Confessions of an Advertising Man by David Ogilvy (Atheneum, 1963).

First and foremost, David Ogilvy was a great advertising copywriter. "At 60 miles an hour the loudest noise in this new Rolls-Royce comes from the electric clock" is considered by many to be the best automobile ad ever written. It's to David's credit as a salesman and master seducer that he used the word "Confessions" in his title, hinting that the book was going to be sexy or reveal some deep dark secret in his past. Not a chance. What you do get is the definitive "how to" book about advertising from the ultimate man in the gray flannel suit, who reigned supreme in the advertising business from the late 1940s until well into the 1970s.

Read about another book on Della Famina's list.

--Marshal Zeringue